The Free Thai Movement Museum is located within the grounds of the Paradorn Hotel in Yantarkitkosol Road, Phrae city. It is dedicated to the resistance movement against Imperial Japan in WW2. The museum was established in 1957 by Mr.Phuchong Kantatham, a son of Mr.Thong Kantatham who was a former leader from Phrae of The Free Thai Movement (Seri Thai).
In the aftermath of the Japanese invasion of Thailand on 7-8 December 1941, the regime of Plaek Pibulsonggram (Phibun) declared war on Britain and the United States on 25 January 1942. Seni Pramoj, the Thai ambassador in Washington, refused to deliver the declaration to the United States government. Accordingly, the United States refrained from declaring war on Thailand. A resistance movement grew in the country when it became clear that the Japanese presence in Thailand was much more akin to an army of occupation than that of an ally. The USA through the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS) offered support to form The Free Thai Movement by way of organisation and training in covert operations. The Movement would become an important source of military intelligence for the Allies in the region. By the end of the war, more than 50,000 Thai had been trained and armed to resist the Japanese by Free Thai members who had been parachuted into the country.
After the war the USA, unlike the other allied powers who had declared war on Thailand, declined to demand war reparations. It is now widely accepted that the efforts of The Free Thai Movement saved Thailand from such humiliation. However, efforts to establish good relations with the civilian government in Bangkok were to suffer when internal disagreement broke out and opened the door for a return to military rule.
Inside the museum there is an interesting collection of artifacts relating to the period but much of the display concentrates on the politics and personalities involved leaving one with some head scratching. For example during the post-war upheaval Mr.Thong Kantatham found himself in exile in China, never to return home. Thus it was left to his son to establish this memorial, the only one of its kind in Thailand to remind us of these difficult times.